GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



413 



ocean only by sounds. The variations in tho 

 hfijrht of the water produced by winds were 

 much greater, amounting nearly to two me- 

 tr.-s. Still greater irregular changes in tho 

 position of land and sea appear to have oc- 

 curred within the memory of man ; for the 

 Tchuktches were at one time afraid that the 

 Swedes would cause inundations along the 

 coast. This appears to show that the sudden 

 changes in the position of the earth, which are 

 well known in the volcanic regions farther 

 south, had extended so far north. As most of 

 the Tchuktches' villages are situated close to 

 the sea, one of the mighty waves which earth- 

 quakes give rise to would completely destroy 

 an immense number of them. The magneti- 

 cal observations made during the winter, in 

 an observatory built of ice and snow, which, 

 being necessarily on land, was at a very incon- 

 venient distance trom the vessel, consisted of 

 (1) absolute determinations whenever oppor- 

 tunity offered ; (2) observations of the changes 

 in the strength and direction of the magnetic 

 forces, made along with necessary absolute de- 

 terminations every hour between November 

 27th and April 1st; (3) five-minute observa- 

 tions on the 1st and 15th of every month, 

 from and including January 15th. 



The natural history of the region in which 

 the Vega wintered is very poor in the higher 

 plants and fungi, but lichens are abundant. 

 The number of insects and other invertebrate 

 land animals was very small. Land and fresh- 

 water mollusca were completely wanting. Of 

 coleoptera only twenty species were found, 

 belonging principally to the families Carabi 

 and Staphylini, with two Cureuliones and 

 Chrysomelae ; and the other orders appeared to 

 be equally poor, with the exception perhaps 

 of the Dipteral and Podurida. On the other 

 hand, the sea-bottom, though covered with a 

 stratum of water always about 2 0. below the 

 freezing-point, swarmed with a large number 

 and a great variety of the lower animal types, 

 of which the dredging-boat almost daily made 

 a rich collection in the channel which opened 

 early in summer in the neighborhood of the 

 vessel. Birds here occur in much smaller 

 number but in a much greater abundance of 

 types than in Nova Zembla, Spitzbergen, and 

 Greenland ; and the bird- world in its entirety 

 has thus quite a different stamp. The birds 

 common on Greenland, Spitzbergen, Nova 

 Zembla, and the coast of Northwest Siberia 

 Larus glaucus, eburneus, and tridactyltu. Ha- 

 relda glacialis, Somateria spectalilit, Plectro- 

 phancs nivalis, Phalaropus fulicariux, and 

 Tringa maritima, the common raven and sev- 

 eral other species are found here. But in 

 addition to these the following uncommon 

 birds are met with : The American eider (the 

 common eider, Somateria mollmima, being 

 absent); a grayish-brown goose with bushy 

 yellowish-white feathers round the neck; a 

 swan-like goose, white with black wing-feath- 

 ers; a species of Fuligula, marked in white 



and green, with a fine black-velvet head ; the 

 beautifully marked, uncommon Larut Rotti ; 

 a little brown snipe with a bill widened spoon- 

 like at the point; several beautiful singers, 

 among them Sylvia Evertmanni^ which for 

 somo days visited the coast in great flocks, 

 probably on their way to breeding-places far- 

 ther north, or waiting till the bushes in the 

 interior should be free of snow. A portion of 

 the purely Scandinavian species here exhibit 

 some variations in color-marking and size. The 

 most common mammal is the hare. It differs 

 from the common Scandinavian mountain hare 

 by its greater size (its weight often rising to 

 fourteen pounds), and by the nasal bone not 

 diminishing so rapidly in size. The mountain 

 fox (Vulpes lagopus, L.) is very common. The 

 common fox ( Vulpet vulgaris, Gray) appears 

 also to be common. A red fox, shot in Octo- 

 ber, differs considerably from the common, 

 and approaches the mountain fox in several 

 particulars. The fox's food during winter ap- 

 pears to consist of hares, ptarmigans, and lem- 

 mings. Of lemmings three species were met 

 with, Myodea obensis (the most numerous), 

 M. torquatut, and Anicola dbscurus. The 

 Tchuktches state that a little mouse also oc- 

 curs, which Nordqvist supposes to be a Sorex. 

 The two lemmings often showed themselves 

 above the snow during winter, which was not 

 the case with Arcicola obscurus. The wolf 

 was seen only twice. The wild reindeer was 

 also uncommon, traces of it having been seen 

 only once. Traces of the land-bear were also 

 seen, and the natives stated that it was not 

 uncommon in summer. The marmot (Arc- 

 tomys) occurs in abundance. An animal de- 

 scribed by the natives as living by the banks 

 of streams is supposed to be the common otter. 

 Two weasel-skins were obtained from the na- 

 tives. It is not certain whether the .ermine 

 occurs there. Only two marine mammals 

 were seen during the winter, the polar bear 

 and the ringed seal (Phoeafatidd). The latter 

 is caught in great numbers, and, along with 

 fish and various vegetables, forms the main 

 food of the natives. Of land-birds, there win- 

 ter in this region only three species, viz., Strix 

 myctea, Corcus corax, and Lagopus nulalpina. 

 The last mentioned is the most common. On 

 December 14th two large flocks of ptarmigan, 

 one numbering about fifty, were seen about 

 ten miles from the coast. The raven is com- 

 mon at the Tchuktches' villages. Its first egg 

 was obtained on May 31st. The mountain 

 owl was seen for the first time on March llth, 

 but the natives say that it is to be met with 

 all winter. In open places on tho sea there 

 occur during winter, according to the natives, 

 two swimmers, Uria Brunnichi and Uiria 

 grylle. Besides these, there possibly winter 

 on the sea a species of Mergulut and one of 

 Fuligula, a specimen of the former having 

 been obtained on November 3d and of the 

 latter on March 9th. During the wintering of 

 the Vega large quantities of the bones of the 



